She only takes 15 oz tops a day so I am producing enough for her. I'm going to write a post this afternoon in our EP'ing group and also in bf to see if anyone knows about nightshift and supply. She's also weaning herself off the bottle, but I push it a bit since I want her to be taking 16 oz of a full fat milk until she's 2.

mamanurse - My guess is that you will get the biggest pump after sleeping if you are regularly swapping days and nights, but a pub med search would probably give you the best answer. There were several studies about it.

I guess I belong in this group too!! My son had latching problems from day one. He would latch for a few days and then he would completely stop. I would then have to pump and give it to him by bottle until I could get him back onto the breast. He would not take it by syringe or cup. I went to see a LC who watched a couple of feeds and made the observation that it was nothing that I was doing to make him not want to latch. She recommended that I rent a hospital grade pump asap while working on latching in the mean time. Our goal was to show my son that coming to the breast was meant to be enjoyable. He is now 2 months old and I can occasionally put him to the breast successfully using a nipple shield. He will give me the sign that he wants to nurse instead of bottle feed by sucking my arm and rooting. I let him guide me as to when he wants to go to the breast because we have found that if we force him onto the breast then he will scream and will not latch. I also found out recently that he has reflux and that in itself could have caused a lot of the issues that I have had. A lot of people condemn me for giving him breast milk and for pumping but in my opinion I am giving him the best food that he can have.

I guess I belong in this group too!! My son had latching problems from day one. He would latch for a few days and then he would completely stop. I would then have to pump and give it to him by bottle until I could get him back onto the breast. He would not take it by syringe or cup. I went to see a LC who watched a couple of feeds and made the observation that it was nothing that I was doing to make him not want to latch. She recommended that I rent a hospital grade pump asap while working on latching in the mean time. Our goal was to show my son that coming to the breast was meant to be enjoyable. He is now 2 months old and I can occasionally put him to the breast successfully using a nipple shield. He will give me the sign that he wants to nurse instead of bottle feed by sucking my arm and rooting. I let him guide me as to when he wants to go to the breast because we have found that if we force him onto the breast then he will scream and will not latch. I also found out recently that he has reflux and that in itself could have caused a lot of the issues that I have had. A lot of people condemn me for giving him breast milk and for pumping but in my opinion I am giving him the best food that he can have.

I'm glad you found our tribe! You are doing the best you can for your little guy! Hopefully he takes the breast for you some. When he does take the breast for you, does he take a whole feed?

I was so happy to discover this tribe last month and after reading along for a while, I've decided to join. I'd been feeling so alone in my EPing and I felt great encouragement by reading about all your stories, struggles, and encouraging words.

To introduce myself: I'm a new Mama to twin Kiana and Makai, born at 31 weeks d/t ruptured membranes and unstopable preterm labor. They spent almost 5 weeks in NICU and I started pumping for them right away:. I spent every waken moment with them in the NICU and I began to introduce them to breastfeeding at 34 weeks. They did well (considering their prematurity), but here's one of two catches. As a 14 year old girl I had a partial masectomy d/t a huge benign breast tumor and unfortunately what remaining breast tissue I had left wasn't evidently connected to my nipple because I was never able to pump out more than a few drops on that side:. So, I feed both my twins still to this day about 99% breastmilk from one now gigantic breast! The other catch with having babies in the NICU was that I was pressured into allowing the nurses to give them my milk in bottles during the night when I couldn't be there because I was told they couldn't be discharged until they could take 100% of their feedings by mouth (not requiring the use of the feeding tube). I'm an OB nurse and I am well aware of the dangers of introducing a bottle so early since I so desired to nurse, but in my despiration to get my babies home I reluctantly allowed them to get bottles when I couldn't be there. I was led to believe by the doctors, nurses, and even the IBCLC's that preemies have no problem switching between bottles and the breast. Sadly but true, they almost immediately began nursing very poorly and then refused all together . Nevertheless I never gave up hope, consulted often with my coworker and IBCLC, and a few weeks ago (at 3 1/2 monthes) I finally suceeded in getting my girl to fall in love with nursing!: My boy's latch, on the otherhand is still all messed up from the bottles and he can only take in a few drops at the breast...so I'm still working with him. Okay, that's my long story made short...ha!:

So far I feel blessed that I've been able to meet their needs with one breast, but I just barely am doing it. I never have more than a few ounces as back-up as he is almost always fed still warm milk. My worry is that in two weeks I have to go back to working part-time night and yikes, I just don't know what's going to happen??? I wish my husband could lactate! The times I couldn't meet their needs and they've gotten straight formula they've thrown it right back up. A blend of breastmilk and formula works a little better, but I can tell they hate it and it breaks my heart.

I think I started the first one 3 years ago (or so), when I was EPing for my second. She had a cleft palate and wasn't able to nurse.

I pumped exclusively for a year for her. Other than for the two weeks when I was building up my supply, it was all breastmilk.

You ladies are doing such an amazing job!!! Keep up the great work!!

OOOH!!! A retired EPer! I was hoping a retired EPer would sub!!! I have a question for you...

I have been EPing for 14 months. I was pumping every 2 hours around the clock for the first 12 months. I then began skipping one pump overnight, skipping one in the am, and then increasing the time between the other pumpings a bit. I pump around 8-9 times a day now. (its easy for me to pump, my dd is happy to sit on my lap and read books while I pump) My supply hasn't dropped a huge amount, only a few oz, and I still have enough milk. I don't plan on stopping pumping for quite some time, but do plan on dropping the frequency more.

My question is... (and for anyone who dropped pumps recently) When you started to drop pumps, did you notice any mood changes? I am in some sort of funk since I began dropping pumps. I am so depressed. I was wondering if it was hormonal? Does/Did anyone else have a problem with depression as they drop pumps? I had some pretty wicked PPD, btw.

I was so happy to discover this tribe last month and after reading along for a while, I've decided to join. I'd been feeling so alone in my EPing and I felt great encouragement by reading about all your stories, struggles, and encouraging words.

To introduce myself: I'm a new Mama to twin Kiana and Makai, born at 31 weeks d/t ruptured membranes and unstopable preterm labor. They spent almost 5 weeks in NICU and I started pumping for them right away:. I spent every waken moment with them in the NICU and I began to introduce them to breastfeeding at 34 weeks. They did well (considering their prematurity), but here's one of two catches. As a 14 year old girl I had a partial masectomy d/t a huge benign breast tumor and unfortunately what remaining breast tissue I had left wasn't evidently connected to my nipple because I was never able to pump out more than a few drops on that side:. So, I feed both my twins still to this day about 99% breastmilk from one now gigantic breast! The other catch with having babies in the NICU was that I was pressured into allowing the nurses to give them my milk in bottles during the night when I couldn't be there because I was told they couldn't be discharged until they could take 100% of their feedings by mouth (not requiring the use of the feeding tube). I'm an OB nurse and I am well aware of the dangers of introducing a bottle so early since I so desired to nurse, but in my despiration to get my babies home I reluctantly allowed them to get bottles when I couldn't be there. I was led to believe by the doctors, nurses, and even the IBCLC's that preemies have no problem switching between bottles and the breast. Sadly but true, they almost immediately began nursing very poorly and then refused all together . Nevertheless I never gave up hope, consulted often with my coworker and IBCLC, and a few weeks ago (at 3 1/2 monthes) I finally suceeded in getting my girl to fall in love with nursing!: My boy's latch, on the otherhand is still all messed up from the bottles and he can only take in a few drops at the breast...so I'm still working with him. Okay, that's my long story made short...ha!:

So far I feel blessed that I've been able to meet their needs with one breast, but I just barely am doing it. I never have more than a few ounces as back-up as he is almost always fed still warm milk. My worry is that in two weeks I have to go back to working part-time night and yikes, I just don't know what's going to happen??? I wish my husband could lactate! The times I couldn't meet their needs and they've gotten straight formula they've thrown it right back up. A blend of breastmilk and formula works a little better, but I can tell they hate it and it breaks my heart.

Welcome to our group! Im glad you made it here. It sounds like you have been through so much! Im glad you were able to get your dd to . Hopefully your son will be able to, soon. That is amazing that you can feed TWINS off of one breast!

Welcome to our group! Im glad you made it here. It sounds like you have been through so much! Im glad you were able to get your dd to . Hopefully your son will be able to, soon. That is amazing that you can feed TWINS off of one breast!

I totally second that! Especially the part about feeding TWINS off ONLY one breast, I can bairly keep up with my one babe from two!

I have been EPing since my daughter was about 8 months or so - she went on a nursing strike and I have been unsuccessful in attempting to get her to nurse again. I work full time and my husband is her primary caregiver so she only nursed at night from age 3 weeks and was bottle fed breast milk during the day. It about killed me when she refused to nurse! However she turns one on Wednesday and I am still pumping for her. It is frustrating and I REALLY miss her nursing (I tear up thinking about it!). It is really hard to keep pumping when I don’t have the bonding of nursing helping me deal with all of the issues of pumping but breast milk is so much better for her!

I do have a suggestion for the hands free issue – I have been using Medela pump in style – I LOVE the backpack!! I bought the Medela bra and hands free devices and use them all the time. I even strap on the pump and drive occasionally – the 20 minute drive to/from work is perfect for pumping! As it is completely hands free it doesn’t interfere with driving. It also lets me sit at my computer and work while pumping. I find that using the hands free device and then doing something so I am ‘not watching the milk level’ significantly increases the amount of milk I get as well! I bought mine at www.breakoutbras.com

hu! I have recently dropped the number of pumps I do a day and have been feeling a bit blue - I did not make the connection though. I bet that is the problem. I am soooooo glad you posted! you are not alone.

hu! I have recently dropped the number of pumps I do a day and have been feeling a bit blue - I did not make the connection though. I bet that is the problem. I am soooooo glad you posted! you are not alone.

Thanks for sharing. Did your milk supply drop any? How many times were you pumping, and how many are you now?

Thanks for sharing. Did your milk supply drop any? How many times were you pumping, and how many are you now?

Yes it has dropped a lot - I was initially pumping about 5 times a day and nursing at night and I was a very good producer and was getting about 6-8 oz per side per pump. Now I only pump about 2 times per day sometimes 3 and am getting about 3-4 oz per side.

I never, personally, had any mood swings when dropping a pump, but a drop in supply can absolutely cause some blues (my mom experience this when she was nursing). I imagine that having had PPD, you are sensitive to those hormonal variances.

I'm very impressed with your pumping every two hours for a year!!! I did that for the first 4 months, but then started to cut back to 6 times a day. After about the first 4-6 months, your supply is not given much hormonal help (meaning it's all supply/demand). Once my supply was well established, I was able to cut back without seeing a decrease in my supply. I was able to pump 6 times a day and maintain my supply. This is, likely, the reason you haven't seen a decrease, Gooey.

Are you feeling depressed and anxious about your supply? Because, I wonder if keeping a log of how much you are producing would help? I maintained a daily log of my pumping for about 9 months (still have them, too). It helped to be able to see a visual representation of my work and effort. It was reassuring to know that I was producing 36 ounces a day, and she was only drinking 34.

Double Love - WOW! Feeding twins off one breast! My hat's off to you, mama! And that's awesome that your girl is nursing!

I used an Easy Expressions Hands free pumping bra when I was pumping. It made life possible! I had a 3 year old and an infant. I needed all the hands I could get!! I was able to pump in the car (with the car adapter), while driving, anywhere I had electrical outlets. I used to call my Medela Lactina, Emily's evil twin.

I decided to wean myself from the pump at a year because it was becoming too much to keep after my (then) almost 4 year old, and my new toddler and find time to pump. The stress was causing me to not be a great parent. Emily was needing mommy more than she was needing my milk. The thing that made it easier to bear (I guess I did have the blues towards the very end, after all, but that could have been related to some very legitimate grieving over the loss of my breastfeeding relationship with Emily, and the realization that she really never would nurse), was that I had a HUGE freezer stash. For a year, I had produced 2-3 ounces more than Emily was drinking a day. At the height of my supply, I was producing maybe 5 ounces more a day. I was freezing every last drop of extra milk in my deep freezer (a birth present from my family, that couldn't have been more timely), and was able to feed her breastmilk for the next 6 months with it.

Oh, and to those that think that, just because you don't have any extra, you don't have a great supply, remember, that if you were nursing, exclusively, you wouldn't have any extra, either! If you did, you would be engorged all the time and leaking all over the place!

Are you feeling depressed and anxious about your supply? Because, I wonder if keeping a log of how much you are producing would help? I maintained a daily log of my pumping for about 9 months (still have them, too). It helped to be able to see a visual representation of my work and effort. It was reassuring to know that I was producing 36 ounces a day, and she was only drinking 34.

The thing that made it easier to bear (I guess I did have the blues towards the very end, after all, but that could have been related to some very legitimate grieving over the loss of my breastfeeding relationship with Emily, and the realization that she really never would nurse), was that I had a HUGE freezer stash. For a year, I had produced 2-3 ounces more than Emily was drinking a day. At the height of my supply, I was producing maybe 5 ounces more a day. I was freezing every last drop of extra milk in my deep freezer (a birth present from my family, that couldn't have been more timely), and was able to feed her breastmilk for the next 6 months with it.

I'm not all that worried about my supply. I still make over 40 oz a day. I used to make MUCH more than that. I have 3.5 deep freezers full, so dd will be ok if I am a few oz short. But, the thing is, we travel a lot to our parents houses, so taking frozen milk is a PITA. She won't drink WCM or formula or even juice. : I would like to keep my supply at atleast 35 oz so I don't have to deal with taking milk with us.

I do keep a log of what I make and what she eats. My family picks on me for it, since I have every pee, poo, how much milk, water, and food she consumes, how many times I pumped and how much I made for the day marked in a notebook for every day of her life.

I am wondering if my depression is also from the fact that I am realizing that I won't be able to let my dd wean the "natural" way. Her weaning from EBM depends on when I quit pumping, not when she doesn't need it anymore. I really can't see myself pumping a year or more from now, and I wouldn't have weaned her then if she bf'd. I guess part of it is the realization that I am not a "real" bfing mom. I know pumping is the best I can do. I just feel bad that I won't be able to keep up with it as long as I would have bf'd her. I don't know if I will be able to have another child (I was lucky to get this one) and I guess I am feeling bad that I will never get to actually bf the normal way.

I know my EPing days will have to come to an end within the next year. I can't do this forever. My dd does happily read books while sitting on my lap while I pump, but I feel like I am missing out on life. I am going back to work part-time very soon. I won't be able to pump at work. So I guess I would have to make up missed pumps during the night. I am so burned out by this pumping stuff. I want to do stuff for myself. I want to work out in our home gym while dd naps instead of pumping. I want to declutterize my home. I want to go out more. I have so many wants right now, and I feel like I can't do much with the pumping. I feel like MY quality of life is suffering and so is my dh's.

But then I feel guilty about quitting. I know babies should have breastmilk for atleast 2 years. I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if I had a very low supply and I quit. But having such a great supply, I feel like it would be a mean thing to do. To just give up all of the great benefits of breastmilk? For my own selfish reasons? And how can I just quit, when I know my dd won't drink anything else? She hardly eats any solid food at all! I know I have a great stash, but what happens when it runs out and I am dried up? Then what do I feed her? She is already very thin (7th percentile) so I don't want her refuse everything for a long time hoping to get the good stuff that is no longer available.

I guess I rambled long enough. If anyone read this much of my rambling, thanks for listening!

I guess I rambled long enough. If anyone read this much of my rambling, thanks for listening!

It sounds so difficult to decide when to call it quits. How blessed you are to have such a huge frozen supply! It's also amazing that you've kept track of everything like you have. I'm sure that nurse in you contributes to your diligent documentation. (I can relate...I forced myself to stop after a few months). Perhaps you could just start cutting back on your number of pumps slowly so she can get just a little longer of cold season protection, but whenever it feels right TO YOU to stop you've done awesome work!

Boy, do I know how you feel! Emily took WCM just fine (I was a little offended at how little it seemed to bother her.: ). In that it didn't seem like she really cared what was in her bottle, I made the decision to let her wean herself from the bottle. She is 3 and still on the bottle. Katie weaned herself at 3years, 9 months, so I expect Emily to be hanging on to her bottle for a little while. Even though she isn't weaning herself "naturally", her needs are being met, and she's driving her need/desire for suckling.

Wow! You had an amazing milk supply! Did you have any special tricks to do that or were you just naturally blessed?

I think it was a natural blessing - I did what everyone else seems to do with pumping (or nursing at night) every 3 hours or so and drinking a ton of water. I am glad that I was able to build up a good supply of frozen milk (had planned on donating it) because my daughter was severely injured when she was 7 months and the stress of her being in the PICU really knocked my production and we wound up needing all of the milk. We put her back on pure breast milk for a month or so after the accident.

I have decided to return my Symphony : when my DD hits a year(3 wks) and purchase a PISA. I just cant seem to mentaly justify keeping it since I dont know how much longer I am planning to pump.

Just wondering everyone's opinon...
It seems to be the pump of choice if you are not using a hospital grade, would you all agree? I have never used one but I have heard that it is a bit rougher on your nips then the Symphony. Do you think that I will notice a huge difference in comfort? How about supply? I am really scared to switch, I have been using the Symphony since about mth 4 and it was the only pump that could get my supply up so I did not need to supplement.

But I am trying to be monitarily conservative, I have already spent soooo much $ on the symphony, I really should have bought my own and then sold it after I was done EPing. But I just could bring myself to buy anything related to pumping (for example I only have one set of horns, 8 nipples, etc.). I did not buy a pump because I did not want to feel tied to pumping. I think if I actually bought a pump back in the beginning it would have stressed me out even more than I already was by making me feel committed to pumping more than just one day since I made a substancial monitary investment. I know it sounds strange but I wanted to be as free to quit any day if I so desired.

Well now that the year mark is upon me I am finally ready to make some kind of investment, I just hope that the PISA is the right way to go. I found a great price online from a store that is a licenced medela dealer, 225 for the backpack version and 250 for the metro bag shipped. Has anyone else found it any cheeper?

I have decided to return my Symphony : when my DD hits a year(3 wks) and purchase a PISA. I just cant seem to mentaly justify keeping it since I dont know how much longer I am planning to pump.

Just wondering everyone's opinon...
It seems to be the pump of choice if you are not using a hospital grade, would you all agree? I have never used one but I have heard that it is a bit rougher on your nips then the Symphony. Do you think that I will notice a huge difference in comfort? How about supply? I am really scared to switch, I have been using the Symphony since about mth 4 and it was the only pump that could get my supply up so I did not need to supplement.

I used a PIS to EP at 4 months (DD BF off and on up to this point). By the 6 month mark I was ready to give up because my nipples were sore and I dreaded turning that nob to start the machine. I decided to rent a Symphony because I had heard it was more comfortable and I wanted to try to increase my supply. It didn't increase my supply (although it didn't take me quite as long to pump the same amount), but it was a dream compared to the PIS in terms of comfort. I gave it up in October (11 month mark) due to a move across the country. Surprisiningly, after so much time the PIS didn't really bother me and I am still using it at nearly 14 months. It did not affect my supply, but I do need to pump a little longer than I did compared to the symphony (about 5 minutes or so). I don't know what would happen using it long term, but I am cutting pumps and am down to 2/day right now. I will probably stay here for a while, but my supply has been relatively stable. So, I say give it a try. For me, I guess my nipples toughened up enough that it didn't matter anymore.

My girls turned 1 on Wednesday, so yesterday marked my 1 year anniversary with the pump. Wow. Of course, since they were preemies, they aren't "really" 1 year old. Their due date was 3/27, so I am definitely giving them breastmilk until then. After that, I would like to taper down gently and stop, but it will partly depend on how their eating is doing and what their ped and the neonatalogists say. I would like them to get the benefits of BM at least through RSV season, and maybe longer. I don't have it in me to go for another full year, though. Of course, it appears that if they have their way, after I finish pumping, they'll be on 100% cake. http://i99i.photobucket.com/albums/l...irthday092.jpg

Betsy, mama to beautiful, strong MZ twins Lillian and Kate, born 11 weeks early on January 10, 2006.

BakerALM:My twins were in the NICU for 5 weeks and while I was there I used the Medela Lactina at their bedside and then the PISA at home. I honestly could not tell a difference in the two. I do however like how the PISA pumps real quickly for the first two minutes to encourage letdown because its often hard to break away and pump and I need to get the milk flowing ASAP. Of coarse, you can over-ride the quick pumping and go straight to normal speed pumping with the push of a button. I wasn't able to shop around for mine and paid $350 for the backpack one. Sorry, I haven't used the Symphony.

I was wondering if there are any full time pumping moms with full time jobs out there....

I've been at this for almost a year and went back to work when DS was 3 months so I've been managing both. But I wonder how other people do it? I am getting less and less milk (enough to feed him still but with little going into the freezer these days) and it takes longer and longer. Its difficult to pump for 45 minutes and get us ready, give him a bottle then feed him breakfast (he doens't like to eat) and often I can't get up before him because he is sleeping ON me, can't get him to sleep much either.

How do you manage your pumping and morning routine? How often do you pump?

I was wondering if there are any full time pumping moms with full time jobs out there....

I've been at this for almost a year and went back to work when DS was 3 months so I've been managing both. But I wonder how other people do it? I am getting less and less milk (enough to feed him still but with little going into the freezer these days) and it takes longer and longer. Its difficult to pump for 45 minutes and get us ready, give him a bottle then feed him breakfast (he doens't like to eat) and often I can't get up before him because he is sleeping ON me, can't get him to sleep much either.

How do you manage your pumping and morning routine? How often do you pump?

Looking for some tips...
Thanks!

HI
I pump in the car on the way to/from work - I use the Medela pump in style back pack with a hands free device and will wear it around the house while getting ready in the morning or while cooking etc. I would never have lasted with pumping as long as I have otherwise. I got the hands free device at breakoutbras.com... I hope this helps - EPing is not easy nor is having to go back to work! Good luck.

I was wondering if there are any full time pumping moms with full time jobs out there....

I've been at this for almost a year and went back to work when DS was 3 months so I've been managing both. But I wonder how other people do it? I am getting less and less milk (enough to feed him still but with little going into the freezer these days) and it takes longer and longer. Its difficult to pump for 45 minutes and get us ready, give him a bottle then feed him breakfast (he doens't like to eat) and often I can't get up before him because he is sleeping ON me, can't get him to sleep much either.

How do you manage your pumping and morning routine? How often do you pump?

Looking for some tips...

Thanks!

I pump four times a day: two during my commute into and from work, once at work, and then once in the middle of the night. (I wake up and then usually am able to fall back to sleep.) I work about 60+ hours a week. My husband has a very short commute, a flexible workday, and a wonderful daycare on site, so he does the getting ready to go to "school" and brings her back home. We sit down to a (usually takeout) meal when I get home. So my morning routine isn't all that bad, thankfully. I'm very protective of my weekend time, and generally spend every waking (and sleeping) moment with my DD. I have noticed a slight decrease in the amount per pump (about an ounce combined) and we're dipping into the freezer because she's eating more. I've always been a long pumper- 30-45 min a session. Good for the commute, bad for home and work. I'll have been pumping for 13 months next week.